DUNWOODY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY — A LU M N I & F R I E N D S M AGA Z I N E — S U M M E R 2 020
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DONOR SPOTLIGHT
ART POPEHN ’40 TOOL & DIE
CELEBRATING A CENTURY OF ACHIEVEMENT
Last winter, Dunwoody staff and friends were honored to celebrate the 100th birthday of 1940 Tool & Die graduate Art Popehn. Popehn’s connection to Dunwoody started more than 80 years ago when a teacher at Roosevelt High School recognized his aptitude for taking machines apart and putting them back together and recommended that he attend Dunwoody. It was a recommendation Popehn took to heart, and one he never regretted. “The classes, including trigonometry, were hard, but the teachers had experience in industry and things like the time clock prepared us for working in industry,” Popehn said. “It was a great education.” Paying the monthly tuition wasn’t always easy and an instructor offered him the job of sweeping the machine shop floors every night to help make ends meet. “Going to Dunwoody was a great opportunity that everybody did not have” Popehn said. “Attending Dunwoody was the basis for my livelihood and provided the learning and the discipline and the desire to do well in life.” After graduating, Popehn landed a job at Smith Welding and then moved on to Honeywell. While getting established in his career, he set up his own tool and die shop for after work hours in the basement storage locker of the apartment building he and his wife, Joanne, lived in on Franklin Avenue. He and a friend had success doing small-scale stamping and tooling projects under the name of Mid-Continent Engineering. After success with this side business, they decided to quit their day jobs and opened Mid-Continent in a condemned building in Northeast Minneapolis. Mid-Continent grew to become a respected defense contractor. In 1974, Popehn sold the company to focus his efforts on leading Hiawatha Rubber, a fast-growing company spin-off, which made precision rubber parts and assemblies for OEM manufacturers. Today, Hiawatha Rubber is a thriving company led by Popehn’s children.
“I OWE EVERYTHING TO DUNWOODY,” POPEHN SAID. “THAT WAS THE BASIS OF MY LIFE. WHAT I WAS ABLE TO DO IN MY LIFE STARTED AT DUNWOODY AND DUNWOODY INSPIRED IT. I WANT TO CONTINUE TO GIVE BACK TO THE COLLEGE THROUGH MY SUPPORT.” Throughout his life, Popehn has lived by the motto “Never Give Up,” inspired by the words of Winston Churchill during WWII. These words are as important today to Popehn as they were to him during his youth. “Today I am working with electronics, computers and cameras to make DVDs,” he said. “I am constantly running up against
Mike Donatelle ’67 (left), Art Popehn ’40 (center), and Chuck Donatelle ‘65 (right) celebrated Art’s 100th birthday last December at Dunwoody.
problems, but I am not going to give up because I have a problem. I fight problems today, too, but perseverance, determination, and a positive attitude win the day.” “Dunwoody students will always have the best futures of anyone,” he said. “There will always be a need for keeping the world going. Electricians, machinists, car repair technicians, construction workers — that is what the world needs constantly. Everything is changing, and Dunwoody will change with it to produce the students the world needs. What school has the reputation that Dunwoody has? Everything that is made starts here.” Popehn served on the Alumni Board from 1961 to 2002, holding several leadership positions. He received the Institutional Advancement Award and the Alumni Achievement Award in recognition of his business success, leadership, and support of the College. “We are grateful to Art and his family for their generous and longstanding support of Dunwoody,” said Dunwoody President Rich Wagner. We celebrate Art Popehn and the many ways he is helping to move Dunwoody forward!
